• Bran,

    If you are reading this, I am dead…

    Boy, what an opening. No muss, no fuss, just BAM! I mean, there could at least be some sort of lead-in, a way to soften the blow. But then again, that was never his style.

    I fell back into my overstuffed chair and stared at the sheet of paper in my hand.

    The courier had been very apologetic for waking me so late, but he had just been doing his job. The small envelope and wrapped bottle he had carried had hardly seemed like a big deal when I accepted them, but then I made the mistake of looking inside the envelope.

    I had found a short note from one of my best friends. We had grown up together, worked together, done everything two best friends normally do together. He had practically been my brother.

    Looking at it like that, I wasn't particularly surprised about his lead-in. No, my shock was from the subject matter itself.

    Bran,

    If you are reading this, I am dead. I knew the risks, and took them anyway. The prospect of finding a lost treasure was too much to pass up. You know that; you tried to talk me out of it often enough. But I went ahead anyway, and, well…

    So now I'm dead. The other group is most likely responsible, since my body has been found. Unless it's been six months since I disappeared, in which case they're only slightly less likely to be responsible.

    Either way, I wanted to let you know that I've found it! After two years of searching, I finally know where it is. All I have to do is get to it. Hopefully, I'll succeed, and we'll be laughing together over this admittedly melodramatic letter.

    But the chance I might not succeed is why I'm writing it in the first place. If I fail, if I die… You're the only one I trust to pick up where I left off. I can't tell you the exact location, since I don't know if it's possible to intercept this letter before it gets to you, and I certainly don't want to help the other side.

    So, I've sent a package with it. It's about three clues away from the answer, and as far as I know, the opposition has never found it. That means that you should be home free, as long as they never find out you've started working on this.

    And I do hope you start working on this, Bran. I know you've been against it from the start, but you know how important this is too me. It's what my entire life has been leading up to. That's what it feels like, anyway.

    So, good luck, and stay safe. I'll miss you, buddy, and I hope you'll miss me.

    Friends beyond death,

    Archie

    I sighed as I put the envelope down, and turned my attention to the bottle. I really didn't want to open it. How many times had I tried to convince Archie that this was a pipe dream? First that the treasure didn't really exist, then, as the opposition made itself known, that it was too dangerous.

    But he had always been hard-headed, and insisted that he had to do this, no matter how much I tried to convince him otherwise.

    I leaned over, and unwrapped the bottle. Dirty green glass was revealed as the paper fell away, and I could just make out something inside. It looked like rolled-up paper, although it could also be a thin cylinder.

    I leaned back again, and just sat for a few minutes. Then, I stood, walked to the telephone, and dialed a number.

    When the other side picked up, I spoke: "Did you have to kill him?"

    "I'm sorry, milord, but he was too close. The Secret must be guarded at all costs."

    "I know. I'm Head of the Order, after all. I just wish there had been another way."

    "I'm sorry. I know you two were close, and I know how hard you worked to keep him away."

    "Yes, well. The Secret must come before all else."

    "The Secret is our life."

    "You did well, however sad it makes me. Go with God."

    "And you, milord."

    I hung up.

    'Archie, you little b@$1@*^,' I thought sadly. 'Why couldn't you just leave it alone?'

    But the Order of the Secret must protect it for all time, against any who seek it, for to find it would be the doom of the world. So it is written, and so it shall be.

    Amen.

    I picked up the bottle, and went to get my coat. Archie had unknowingly helped us, and he had been right. We had no idea this clue had existed. And now, I was on my way to a nearby blast furnace, to annihilate it forever.

    THE END